Hunting Daylight (9781101619032) (56 page)

My stomach tightened.

I got out of the tub, and he wrapped me in a towel, knotting it over my breasts. I ran my fingers through his hair. “Are you all right?”

He kissed me before he spoke. “Your uncle Nigel just arrived.”

“
Here
?” A flutter stirred in my chest. Normally I would be thrilled to see my uncle. But something felt wrong.

“How did he know where to find me?” I asked.

“I e-mailed him,” Raphael said.

“Why?” I looked up into his eyes. What was going on? Was he just trying to keep me calm? The tranquilizers were still in my bloodstream, and I couldn’t hold my thoughts together. I felt blunted and empty.

Raphael started to say something, but his lips couldn’t seem to shape the words. Then one edge of his mouth tilted down.

“You’ve got that look, Raphael. Something’s wrong. You’re holding back.”

He grabbed another towel and patted it against my shoulder. Then he led me into the bedroom. I started to pick up the dress Maria had set out, but Raphael caught my hand. I gave him a questioning look. He guided me to the bed, and we sat down on the comforter, facing each other. I put my hands in my lap and stared at my upturned palms, trying to appear calm, but my heart was racing.
Vivi is dead. That’s why Uncle Nigel is here. People always come together for weddings and funerals.

“No,
mia cara
.” Raphael lifted my hand and kissed the scabs on my palms. “I apologize. My voice has left me today. But I wanted you to be sitting down when you
hear the good news. Vivi is coming home. Dolphini and his men are bringing her here tonight.”

The air swirled. Long, glossy streaks were moving around me. My heart was still leaping. I let out a joyful sob and flung my arms around him. His hands tightened on my waist.

I leaned back. “She’s all right?”

He nodded. “Healthy and unharmed,
mia cara
.”

“Where was she? How did she escape?”

He explained how Dolfini had traced numbers on Tatiana’s cell phone to a compound in Sutherland, South Africa. Raphael had assembled a team. And now my daughter was on her way home.

I’d been holding my breath while he talked, and now I let it out in a rush. “Where is she now?”

“Madrid. She can’t wait to see you. Before Dolfini’s team arrived in Sutherland, Vivi had prepared the way. She did a takedown of the Al-Dîn compound. She used her skills. Dolfini said she even took a hostage—a ferret. She called while you were sleeping. She wants to tell you what happened. I gave her my word.”

I smiled and shook my head. So that was why he’d brought Uncle Nigel. I pressed my cheek against Raphael’s. “Thank you for bringing her home.”

“Anything for you,
mia cara
,” he whispered.

“We’ll have to plan a welcome-home dinner,” I said. Now we can have only one wedding. Do you still want to get married in the garden? Uncle Nigel can give me away. And Vivi can be the flower girl.”

Raphael made a tiny, choked sound. And then his
cheek felt damp. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was crying. I cradled the back of his head, and my tears spilled down.

After a while, he pulled back, wiping his face. “There’s more.”

“What is it, then?”

He put his hand on my cheek, more tears glistening in his eyes. “Jude is alive. He’s coming with Vivi.”

A roaring sound filled my head. I slumped, as if my bones had softened. Raphael caught me in an instant and wrapped his arms around my waist. No, this couldn’t be right. I’d misunderstood. Jude was dead.

Raphael’s breath stirred in my hair. “He is alive,
mia cara
.”

Alive.
I couldn’t breathe. A tumble of emotions ran together. Shock, happiness, fear, disbelief. My heart slammed against my breastbone, as if trying to punch its way out. I didn’t blame it. Jude was coming here? All this time, he’d been alive?

I moved back. “Where has he been for the last ten years?”

“South Africa. Mustafa Al-Dîn imprisoned him. Forced him to work in his lab.”

I remembered Tatiana’s dying words. They didn’t matter. He was alive. Vivi was alive. They were together. She would finally have a father. But I wasn’t sure about the rest of it. I reached for Raphael’s other hand. What would we do?

“One more thing,
mia cara
,” Raphael said, pulling back, his eyes searching my face. “Jude was injured. His spinal column was severed, and he lost the use of his legs.
He’s undergone stem cell transplants, and he’s regained some use of his legs. But he’s still in a wheelchair.”

I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t imagine how much he’d suffered, trapped in two different prisons, locked in a laboratory, confined to a chair. There was a long silence.

“I loved him, Raphael. I love him still. But I thought he was dead. I’ve moved far away from that grief. I’m not the same woman he left behind.”

“Your love for him won’t end,” Raphael said.

“No, no. But it has changed.”

Tears stood in Raphael’s dark eyes. “Caro, you don’t have a choice. You never had one.”

This was the last thing I wanted to hear. “If I have no choices, I still pick you.” I pressed my chin on his shoulder and laced my fingers through his hair. I knew every plane and slope of his body, and they felt just right to me. My hands dropped to his shoulders. I felt the hard curve and slid my hands lower, over the firm length of his arms. He was just as stong on the inside. “How long before they arrive?” I asked.

He moved back a little and tilted his watch. “Ten hours or so. Why?”

I stretched out on the bed and held out my hand. “Just hold me.”

He climbed in next to me and gathered me into his arms. A tear moved slowly down the side of his nose. “I want every clock in the world to give back our time,” he said, his voice filled with yearning. “I want all of those hours in Norway and Zermatt and Paris and Morocco.”

“This won’t be the last time we’re together,” I said.
But one door was gusting open, and I couldn’t prevent the other door from closing, no matter how hard I tried.

“
Sei il grande amore della mia vita
,” he said in my ear.
You’re the love of my life.
“In all my time on earth, I’ve only done one thing right. I’ve loved you.”

I leaned into him, bound by his gravity, and no force could take me away from him.

We did little talking for the next ten hours, and what happened will stay between me, Raphael, and the gods.

VILLA PRIMAVERINA, ISLA CARBONARA

VENICE, ITALY

Vivi could barely contain her excitement as she leaned against the helicopter window, watching the lights of Venice recede. The water stretched out black and silky as a ball gown. The darkness parted, and a dazzle radiated from Villa Primaverina. She saw the landing pad in the lower garden, a giant white X in the center. The steps rose up past sculpted flower beds, past a stone nymph who danced in a fountain.

Everyone she loved was waiting on the front terrace of the villa, their faces upturned. She saw Beppe in a white dinner jacket, his bald head gleaming. Maria leaned against him, holding Arrapato. Uncle Nigel smoked his pipe. Raphael stood on the bottom step, the wind catching his shirt. Her mom was beside him, a mass of honeyed curls rising behind her.

Jude leaned toward the window, and Vivi saw his face crumple.

She kissed the top of his head. “It’s all right, Dad. She loves you.”

He pointed to his ears and mouthed,
I can’t hear you
.

Soon they would be on the ground, out of this loud bird. They would be a family with a house and an address that would never change. She even had a pet. She reached down and adjusted the strap on Bram’s Sherpa. She and her dad would garden at night, and her mom would smile all the time. Jude had been trying so hard to walk the last few days. He’d explained about those stem cell treatments he’d secretly gotten at the compound; they had rebuilt part of his spine, but he needed more implants. One day he would rise from that chair. But tonight, if he fell, if he even wobbled, Vivi and her mom would be right there to catch him.

As the helicopter veered toward the landing pad, Jude remembered the first time he’d come to Villa Primaverina—Raphael’s stereo had played a Nine Inch Nails song, and the red, black, and white décor had complemented the music.

Jude’s eyes brimmed. How could he ever thank Raphael for taking care of Caro and Vivi?

Vivi tapped the window, and it looked as if she were saying,
Mom
.

He leaned toward the window. Lights blazed over the steps that led to the villa. Everyone was waiting on the terrace—Beppe, Maria, Nigel, Raphael. Caro looked just like she had the first time he’d seen her. All legs and cheekbones, with irrepressible hair. Oh, how he loved her.
She was looking up at the helicopter, her white dress billowing. Living without her had been unbearable, but he couldn’t think about that now. He’d need to take it slowly with her. One step. A half step. Their lives had shifted and realigned, and they would shift again. Maybe not in the way he hoped. Or maybe into something wonderful.

Caro ran down the steps as fast as she could, her hair flying. He sat up a little straighter, his heart booming. Everything would be the same. She loved him. And she was still his girl.

I waited at the edge of the landing pad, my dress foaming around my knees. Lights streaked across the water, and when the helicopter touched down, I felt dizzy. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The door opened, and Signore Dolfini helped Vivi out of the helicopter. Then he climbed back inside and emerged with a folded-up wheelchair. My heart clenched as I watched him open it and lock the wheels. One of Dolfini’s men came out of the door with Jude in his arms and put him in the chair, then Vivi pushed him away from the landing pad. As they got closer, the wind kicked up his dark ponytail. His eyes were the same porcelain blue, tilting up at the edges. I put my hand over my mouth. This was everything I’d ever wanted. This was everything
I didn’t want. I’d already decided what to do. I would be on my own for a while. Let both Jude and Raphael go.

But I was wrong. Vivi locked the wheelchair. She looked as if she’d grown two inches, but she was so thin.

“Mom!”

She dove into my chest. I hugged her as hard as I could. She hugged me, too. We swung from side to side. Finally, she pulled away. “Look who I brought home for supper.”

Jude’s smile widened. “Sorry, I’m a bit late.”

“A bit,” I said. Long ago, I’d realized that we might never have tranquil days, but right now, as I looked into my husband’s eyes, I found a quiet place inside me.

He grabbed the side of the chair, arms trembling, and slowly rose. I threw my arms around him. I felt him lean into me, and then he put his hands on my waist. I felt the cool rush of his breath against my neck. Then I felt him wobble, and for a moment, I couldn’t tell who was holding on and who was letting go.

He let out a breath and sat down hard in the chair. His hands slipped around my waist, and then he turned me around, so that I was facing the villa, and pulled me into his lap. He pressed his chin against the back of my head.